Open Your Eyes
by Chaos Supernova
Summary: "Look around, Ava. What do you see?" Sam gestured to the dimly lit sidewalk they were standing on. She scanned the street, the buildings, the sidewalks. "Nothing," she concluded. Sam frowned. "Look again. Look harder." And then she saw her. SYOC NOW CLOSED!
1. Different

_Open Your Eyes_

Chapter One

Sam was missing. Again.

This had to be the tenth time that he was either late or absent from training. During these times, he'd turned his tracker off (how he managed to do that, Ava had no idea) and his communicator off. The first time, they'd worried that he'd been captured, or worse.

 _Spider-Man, Iron Fist, White Tiger, and Power-Man stood in the tri-carrier training room, unsure of what to do._

 _"Where IS he?" Fumed Tiger. "He said he'd be late, but not THIS late."_

 _Fist frowned. "Maybe something came up. Something with his family." Ava remembered that Sam was one of the only ones out of them with a complete family. Mom, dad, sibling, the whole package. Ava would be lying if he said that she wasn't envious of Sam's family._

 _"Could be, but has Sam missed training so far?" Power-Man responded to his friend._

 _Fist's frown deepened. "No..."_

 _"What if he was captured?" Tiger paced the room. She'd never admit it, but she did care about the younger boy. Sam was the youngest out of all of them, and the team had come to think of him as a little brother. "What if-"_

 _Spider-Man interrupted her. "No. He said he was going to be late. I don't think he would have said that if he'd been captured."_

 _"Well, maybe the villain threatened him, or- or..." Tiger trailed off. She knew he hadn't been captured. "What if...what if he left?" She said in a small voice._

 _Fist took a deep breath. "No. He wouldn't do that. Perhaps he is just late, later than he expected. Be rational, Tiger. Just start training without him."_

 _Power-Man nodded. "He's right. Sam'll be back. We just have to wait."_

That day, Sam had come back just when training was about to end.

 _As training wound down, the door to the training room was slammed open. Sam stood there, his helmet tucked under his arm, looking like he'd been through #*!. "Hey," he said with a crooked grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. "What did I miss?"_

 _Tiger ran up to him, and pulled him into a hug. Sam gently squeezed out of her iron grip, his spiky hair even more wild than it had been before. "As much as I like hugs, that was completely unnecessary. You see me everyday."_

 _She slapped him. "You little *****! Where were you?" She snarled, all traces of affection gone._

 _Sam ran a hand through his wild hair. "Umm...I was...busy." None of the team believed it for a second, but they all decided they would leave Sam to his secrets._

This had happened multiple times over the last few weeks, and they'd tried to question him, but all he'd said was "Family". So the team assumed it was a personal matter. But lately Ava wasn't so sure. Once when she was getting lunch at a small cafe on Saturday, she saw a blue flash light up an alley. She didn't want to jump to conclusions, but...

Throughout the week, she had seen similar things. Monday, when Sam was late for class, she could have sworn she saw the Nova Corps symbol in the clouds. On Wednesday, when she was out on a patrol with Peter, she saw a black-and-gold figure run into an office building that suspiciously looked like Sam. She didn't get a good look at the figure, but it looked like his costume.

 _Something shiny in the corner of her eye caught Ava's attention. She turned, to see a figure dressed in black, with some gold, dart into the Silver Building. Silver Corporations was a large bio-technology company specializing in eco-friendly technology such as water purifiers and compost mixtures. It was said they would soon rival even Oscorp and Rand Co._

 _She stared at the building for a few moments after that, looking at the large double door entrance where the figure had gone in. "Spidey?" She called out to Peter. "Did you see that?"_

 _Peter swung over to Ava. "See what?"_

 _She pointed to the Silver Building. "The person who went in."_

 _Peter shook his head. "Who was it?"_

 _Ava frowned under her mask. "I don't know. That's the thing. It...it looked a little like Sam."_

 _"Isn't he on the tri-carrier?" Peter asked._

 _"He's SUPPOSED to be," Ava said, a hint of annoyance in her voice. She didn't like not knowing what was going on, and Sam was definitely keeping her in the dark on whatever he was up to._

 _Peter blinked, then starting to swing away. "It might have been nothing, Tiger. We've got a patrol to do, though. So let's do that first." Ava nodded. She shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts swirling through her head._

 _What the #*! was going on with Sam?_

Now today, Friday, she hadn't seen anything yet. She had grown used to wondering, and even used one of the cork boards in her room on the tri-carrier as a suspicions board, with photos and red string and everything. Yet she still hadn't come to a conclusion.

Hopefully, tonight that would change. She was fed up with all the fleeting figures and lies. She wanted to know exactly what was going on. Tonight, whenever she saw Sam, she would corner him. She would take him to the Box (what agents called the adamantium, sound-proof, power-proof interrogation room) and figure out just what was going on.

Later that evening, when the teen heroes' day was winding down, she spotted Sam, helmet tucked under his arm, like all days. Except something about him, about his demeanor, from the nights where Ava swore she heard someone crying to his lack of care for his appearance all of a sudden, was different.

Sam was different, and Ava wanted to know why.

"Sam!" Ava said, running up to the younger hero. "Um, can I talk to you for a second?"

Sam turned to her. For a half second, she saw a complete stranger. A stranger that was Sam but was not Sam, because Sam wasn't utterly exhausted (if anything he was the laziest out of all of them), Sam wasn't terrified, Sam wasn't heart broken, Sam would never have that look on his face. A combination of exhaustion, terror, and sadness, all at the same time.

Sam would never feel those things, let alone show them.

Would he?


	2. Reason

_Open Your Eyes_

Chapter Two

But after that half second that felt like eternity, the old Sam was back. The Sam she knew, the smiley one who always had a grin on his face and a glint in his eyes. "Yeah, sure. What about?" His happy disposition changed to a look of concern. "Um, Ava, you feeling okay? You look like you just saw a ghost..."

I did, she thought. I saw the ghost of what you've become.

"I'm...I'm fine. I just...thought of something that I saw the other day. But," she said, trying to change the subject, "about what I wanted to say to you." She grabbed his wrist, and led him to her room.

Sam's eyes widened. "Woah, kitty cat, where the he-"

Ava growled, cutting him off. "IDIOT! Nothing like that. I need to talk to you. In private." She shoved Sam on her bed, and sat down in her desk chair. "Now. We all know something's up." She stared at him, silently urging him to open up.

Sam blanched. "W-what do you mean something's up?" He asked carefully. Ava could tell he knew she was onto him.

"Something's up with YOU. Don't pretend. In fact, stop pretending. Please. Just tell me. I can keep a secret, you know. I know who Peter has a crush on, and I haven't told anyone," She said with a small smile, trying to lighten the mood.

The faintest flicker of curiosity flitted across Sam's face, but he didn't say anything. "You wouldn't understand. Nobody would," he finished softly, looking at Ava's fluffy white comforter, stroking it.

Ava furrowed her eyebrows, impatient. "Well, WHAT wouldn't I understand? We're a TEAM, Sam! You can tell us these things!" Her voice rose a few octaves, close to pulling her hair out in frustration. Why won't Sam just say what was going on?

"Do you ever realize how lucky we are, Ava?" He said, his voice small.

She raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Us. I mean, look at us. We work with S.H.I.E.L.D, we get to live on the tri-carrier, we go to school, we have friends and family...that's a whole lot more than some people have," Sam looked up at her, his icy blue eyes glassy with unshed tears. "There are- there are others out there. Others who have nothing, others who are on the run, hiding from the bad guys. And they're just children. Children, Ava. Like us. None of us, none of them, deserve what they have to go through. And when- when you're trying to help, you realize. You realize how lucky you are." Sam put his head in his hands, rubbing his temples. "I want to help, Ava. I try. But HOW?" He said in a whisper.

Ava was shell-shocked. Sam. Sam. What the #*! was Sam talking about? Who are they? WHAT are they? Her mind buzzing with unasked questions, she did the last thing she ever thought she would do. She hugged him.

She sat on the bed with the remnants of a cheerful boy. Someone she knew she could always count on when she got depressed, depressed about her family, the amulet, anything. She always knew she could count on Sam to be there for her, to crack a joke when she was feeling down, to give her a hug when she needed one.

And now it was him. He, the depressed one. So she did what he always did for her.

She enveloped him in a hug. "Sam," she said, not sure of what to say. "There's a difference between caring about something, or someone, and loving them. If you care about someone, you care about them. It's as simple as that. But if you truly love someone...it's different. If you truly love someone, you're already making a difference for that person. When someone has nothing, if you love them, guess what? They have you. You, Sam. Whether you know it or not, you've already made a difference, simply by loving. If that person is the world to you, you're the world to them."

Sam said nothing, nor did she. She held him, hoping, waiting, praying, for the old Sam to come back, just a little. She wanted old Sam back. She really did.

Sam pulled away, a small smile on his face. "I now realize why you won that oral presentation contest in school last month. Ava, can you come with me? Please? I have some people I want you to meet." He sat up, and pulled his helmet on. "And suit up."

Her eyes wide, she began to grab her costume from her dresser. She went into the bathroom to change, Sam waiting outside for her. Once she had her costume on, she sat in her desk chair once again. "What now, Nova?"

"Follow me." He held her by her waist, hugging her to his chest as he jumped out the window. Ava now realized why he went out for midnight flights, why he always stayed in the sky as long as possible. She felt she knew what it was like to be a bird, not just a tiger.

It was amazing.

The wind blowing past her, the sunset around her, a beautiful blend of pinks, oranges, and purples. Sam took her even higher up, but not so high as she couldn't breath. Just high enough to see clouds, and the setting sun.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" He yelled across the wind.

She simply nodded in agreement, not wanting to speak, not wanting to ruin the feeling. Ava had never been afraid of heights; always going on roller coasters and Ferris wheels when she and her family had gone to amusement parks. Another repressed memory.

But then Sam touched down, on a sidewalk in what looked like a sketchy part of New York. It looked vaguely familiar; she'd probably been here on a patrol before.

The sun had almost set by now, the street lamps casting an eerie glow on the surprisingly empty street and sidewalk. The street looked almost abandoned, which was extremely out of character for New York. "Why isn't anyone out?" She asked, turning to Sam.

He shrugged, the helmet bouncing. "I don't know. Guess not much traffic." As if on cue, a car sped past them. "Well, there's your traffic for you."

They stood there in silence for a moment, Ava feeling a little confused. "Um...why did you want me to come here again?" She asked in confusion.

"Look around, Ava. What do you see?" Sam gestured to the dimly lit sidewalk they were standing on.

She scanned the street, the buildings, the sidewalks. "Nothing," she concluded.

Sam frowned. "Look again. Look harder."

And then she saw the girl.

The dark figure coming out from the shadows. As she started approaching, she could see a face, a person.

A kid.

The girl came out, a girl a little younger than Ava, with wavy dirty blonde hair, and dark blue eyes. Sam smiled at her, one of his old, truly happy smiles, the smile that she'd missed over the past few weeks.

"Hi, Saph. Saph, this is White Tiger. She's a friend."

Ava could feel the girl's eyes scrutinizing her. She obviously considered Sam a friend. These were the people he must have been talking about. She smiled at the girl, doing her best to not appear as a threat. "Hey,"

The girl narrowed her sapphire-blue eyes, and something incredible happened.

Wings unfolded from her back, white, fluffy wings, like an angel. Ava judged that the girl – Saph – was seeing how Ava reacted to her wings. So Ava kept her face expressionless, even though she was surprised. "Nice wings," she said passively.

"Thank you," Saph said with a small smile. " _Sam, quien es ella? Esta a confiar?_ " Ava recognized the language she spoke as Spanish, though she didn't know what Saph said.

Sam put a hand on Ava's shoulder. " _A menos que yo te digo que no._ Saph, this is White Tiger, also known as Ava-" Ava tensed. "Sam, what the #*! are you doing? You can't reveal my identity!" She hissed in his ear.

"She can keep a secret. She's been keeping a secret her entire life," He responded. "As I was saying, this is Ava Ayala. She's my friend, and a friend to you." He shot a warning glance to Ava.

Ava could feel the eyes watching her, and knew it wouldn't be good to disagree. She'd keep whatever secret Sam had. For now.

"Yeah. I'm not telling. But...um...may I ask who are you, exactly?" She tried to choose her words carefully.

Saph, Ava assumed, stepped forward, so she was only a few feet apart from Ava, her white wings spread behind her. "Can we trust you?" She tilted her head to the side.

Ava nodded, more curious than ever. "Of course."

"Good. My name is Sapphire Silver, Saph for short-"

"Wait," Ava interrupted. "Sapphire Silver? Your parents own Silver Corporations?"

"Yeah. They used to. I'm getting to that." She cleared her throat, and continued. "Anyway, yes, my parents own Silver Corporations. But...they died, recently, and my older brother, Dan, is only 15, not old enough to take on the company yet. So the COO of Silver, Jasmine Halley, took over. Miss Halley, she knows the family secret. My parents never knew that, but we found out when Miss Halley pushed Dan out of a fifth-story window and told him to fly. He did; he had no choice. And, after my parents died, who I now assume were assassinated by Miss Halley's associates, Dan and I knew that she was going to take...advantage of us, learn our secrets, and sell them to the rest of the world. I mean, how much would you pay to fly?"

Remembering her flight with Sam, and how exhilarating it was, she said, "A lot."

Saph nodded. "Exactly. So Dan and I had no choice but to run, you see. Miss Halley is ruthless. She would dissect us, children, if she knew she could make a profit. A fortune, if she actually knew how to replicate our wings. Dan and I knew we were in trouble, and we still are now. So we roamed the streets, finding other powered people to protect us, the family secret, and take Miss Halley down." Saph crossed her arms. "These are some...family friends, bodyguards that were hired for me and Dan, before things went south. They're still loyal to the Silver family

Ava had been through a lot of trauma and suffering. But dissection? She'd never had to face that. She had a few questions regarding Saph's story, such as how her parents died, why Dan fell out of a window, and what exactly was Saph's family's secret. But she didn't want to pry any more than she had. She decided to ask Sam later.

She was about to ask Saph how she met Sam, but there was something buzzing at the back of her head. That feeling that you know something, but you can't remember –

 _Halley. Hale._

Ava recognized the name Jasmine Halley. Or her real name, Yasmine Hale. She had been searching through the S.H.I.E.L.D Index on one of her off days, with no studying to do, her homework done, and the boys at Peter's house playing video games or something stupid like that. So she had decided to search through the Index, just to get a jump on any new villains they might fight. And one of the powered people in New York was Yasmine Hale, also known as Jasmine Halley. Yasmine had super-strength and clairvoyance, due to a freak accident at Silver Corporations. But the Index had listed her as passive. Clearly, that wasn't the case. Maybe the freak accident – some sort of falling into the large vat of bio-weapon chemicals – had made her go a little crazy. It's happened before, what with Goblin and Doc Ock and Electro and you get the idea, Ava thought.

"Saph – Jasmine Halley? Or her real name, Yasmine Hale? She found out because she has clairvoyance. She knows what'll happen, including knowing Dan can fly. I saw her on the Index, a list of powered people we have in sh- Sam, have you told her about...it?"

Sam nodded.

"Well, the Index is a list of powered people we have in S.H.I.E.L.D. We use it to keep of powered people, in case we need it for something like now. Taking down a villain. You know you'll have to go on the Index, right?"

Saph stared at Ava. "No, I won't. I'm not a single powered person, I'm part of a-"

A beeping noise cut her off. Saph looked down at a silver bracelet with a round silver pendant dangling from it. She tapped the pendant, and a screen came up.

"Dan says he won't be back until sunrise next morning, he's gathering our allies. We've been roaming around New York for the past few weeks, trying to get powered people that don't have anywhere to go to join us. Dan says he wants to make a team to help us run Silver Co. once we get it back, and help us take down Miss Halle- Hale. Miss Hale. If she's as powerful as you say she is, and she has the full of Silver Corporation on her side, then we're going to need help. Lots of it," Saph said.

And the past few weeks were when Sam was acting strange. Maybe he was helping Dan? It would make sense, and with the whole helping people, if Dan and Saph have been on the streets trying to find powered people to help them.

"What if we got the team to-" Sam interrupted Ava by shaking his head.

"No. No one except for us can be in on this, because we don't want S.H.I.E.L.D to know. Then they'll have questions, questions Saph and Dan would rather not have to answer. Questions about them, questions about their powers, questions about-"

" _No le digas demasiado, Sam. Confío en ti, pero no estoy seguro acerca de ella_ ," Saph told him, again speaking in Spanish.

" _Quiero confiar en ella, pero por otra parte, hay un montón de gente que no se puede confiar. Y ella es una parte de S.H.I.E.L.D. Puedes confiar en mí, porque me gustaría convertir fácilmente la espalda a ellos si hicieron algo no estaba de acuerdo con el, pero ella no estoy seguro_ ," Sam replied. All this Spanish was making Ava nuts.

"Why do you speak in Spanish?" Ava asked Saph.

"It's the native language of my kind."

Ava raised her eyebrows. "Forgive me for prying, but what exactly is your kind?"

"We are known as the _los Angeles del Otro_. The Otherworldy Angels,"

 **I will leave you to wonder about the Otherworldy Angels.**

 **If you want your OC to be a part of the Saph and Dan's team, then fill out the form below! Please note that I am only going to choose 3 or 4 OCs, so the more in-depth and 3-D your OC is, the better chance of me choosing it. Here are the rules below:**

 **They must be between or the ages of 12 and 15.**

 **No over-powered people, or Mary-Sues. They're allowed to have powers, but keep it on the down low at one or two powers.**

 **You have to explain why they chose to side with them, and how they met Dan.**

 **Canon relationships are not guaranteed, as more then one person might choose the same USM boy.**

 **Your OC does NOT have to be a superhero. They can just be a powered person, or even a villain. Superhero, civilian, villain, I'd like a mix.**

 **You can submit as many OCs as you want, but there's no guarantee I'll use any of them. But if you're one of those people like me who just love to create OCs, go crazy!**

 **You must fill out the form below to be accepted.**

Name:

Nickname/s (if any):

Age:

Gender:

Affiliation (good, bad neutral):

Looks:

Civilian clothes:

Superhero outfit (optional):

Villain outfit (optional):

Powers and how they got those powers:

How they met Dan:

Why they wanted to help Dan and Saph:

Why they were on the streets:

Love interest (A USM person [see above] or Dan or Saph):

 **And that's it! I know that's a whole lot of rules and a crazy long OC form, but I want detailed characters. The more detailed, the better, and the better I can know them and write them. And I need to know some things about them regarding to Dan and Saph, too.**

 **I do need an older OC, Yasmine Hale/Jasmine Halley's assistant. They don't need to be evil, they just work at Silver Co. and are first in command to Hale. Also, they need to be a young adult or adult, old enough to have a professional job. Use the OC form above if you want to submit an OC for that.**

 **Also, one of the OCs, either mine or yours, will die. Someone will die, and they'll be an OC. So if you don't want your OC to die, please specify that.**

 **Thank you so much, and I hope you submit an OC!**

 **REVIEWS, FAVORITES, AND FOLLOWS, AND OCS FEED THE HUNGRY STARVING UPDATE MONSTER!**


	3. Team

Open Your Eyes

Chapter Three

 **OKAY GUYS! OC submission is officially over, starting when I update the summary. I'll tell you the OCs that made it in...**

 **Jackson "Jack" Conners – HackedByAWriter (I am your username XD)**

 **Bethany "Beth" Tudor – Bamboozled (Cool username! XD)**

 **Robyn Quach – IronFistRocks**

 **Tabby Ward – My OC, for plot purposes. And I did say I'd pick three of the SYOCs. So there.**

 **You all had AMAZING OCs, and some of the ones I liked but didn't have enough spots for will make cameo appearances further in the story. Thank you guys SO MUCH for submitting, I got some awesome characters!**

Danburite Silver was lost in the daily crowd of New Yorkers commuting or talking on the phone or whatever. He didn't stand out, in fact he blended in. He was considered good-looking, much like his sister, (even though they looked drastically different) yet no one recognized him. Not that he wanted them to.

He brushed his dark chocolate hair out of his eyes, he had a pesky fringe that always hung over his right eye. His dark clothing was designed to be inconspicuous, a navy hoodie with the hood up, with a dark brown Panic! At The Disco t-shirt underneath. Dark skinny jeans, and black converse. Despite what his sister says about him, he is NOT emo.

His wings were hidden under said Panic! At The Disco t-shirt. They folded quite nicely against his back, folding back and overlapping on top of each other. It didn't hurt at all; he couldn't feel his wings.

His hands shoved in his pockets, Dan allowed himself to get swept away in the sea of people, them taking him wherever they were going. Dan certainly had no idea where he wanted to go. He was looking for powered people to take back Silver Corporation, and dethrone Jasmine Halley. He would be lying if he didn't say he was scared. He didn't want to take over the company, couldn't someone else do that?

He looked up at the sky, at the clouds –

"OWW!" Dan held his hand under his nose, which was now bleeding, he saw.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry!" The boy standing in front of him had wild, chestnut brown hair, and wore a black hoodie that looked similar to the one he was wearing, blue jeans, and extremely worn out running shoes.

Dan smiled on the inside (not the outside, because he was BLEEDING). I think I know what this kid is, he thought. "Um, it's alright. I wasn't watching where I was going, and you were running REALLY fast..." Dan trailed off intentionally, hoping that the teen in front of him would say something useful.

"Yep, I'm on the track team. Just jogging-"

"REALLY REALLY FAST..."

"Dude, what do you want?"

"Are you powered?" Dan hoped this kid was. Otherwise...awkward...

"Um...well...why do you want to know?"

"I KNEW IT! Um...yeah...anyway, can I talk to you for a second? Because if you're interested, I have a job offer for you..."

…

Jackson (as Dan now knew his name) and Dan stood in a dark alley, which is actually a good place to talk in private, if you don't mind the occasional mugging and teenagers making out.

"So, that's my life story," Dan said after finishing the whole story about Jasmine and the Angels and all that (not so) good stuff. "You willing to join? I might be able to hook you up with a super-group if you say yes..." Dan actually had no idea if he could. But he WAS pretty good friends with Charles Xavier, a family friend. If Jack was a mutant, Dan could probably score him a place in there.

"H*ll yeah! I've always wanted to be a superhero. Like my cousins. They're the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, you know. I think I got my powers from Quicksilver,"

Dan nodded, impressed. "Cool. I'm an alien," he added cheerfully.

Jack squinted at Dan. "Wow...you look incredibly similar to a human..."

"We are incredibly similar. You see, my kind come from one of Earth's sister planets, their planet got eaten by Galactus, they fled to Earth, blah blah blah. You get the idea. So we're pretty much humans, except I think I can probably breath in space – not that I'm willing to test that – possibly create objects from light, although that's just a rumor, and...dun dun dun..." Dan shrugged his hoodie off, revealing the wings underneath them. "We have wings. I can fly, although not without looking like a freak..."

Jack's eyebrows were raised, and he whistled. "Oh my god, that is...um...I'm not even sure what to say...somewhere between completely insane and completely OHMY****INGGOD!"

"I know, right? So...I'll call when I've got the team together..." Dan put his hoodie on, and the super-speedster ran up to him, handing Dan a napkin.

"Phone. And good luck," He added, before jogging away.

Dan looked at the phone number in his hand.

He was getting there.

…

Dan once again got sucked into the crowd. He figured that this was the best (and only way he knew of) way to meet powered people. Not being able to focus on the people around him, his head turned to the clouds. So pretty and fluffy. They reminded him of Saph.

Except one black dot deterred from the prettiness and fluffiness. That black dot that was getting closer, and closer, until it flew above the people, New Yorkers screeching and screaming. "IT'S A BAT! A FILTHY BAT!" Dan heard one lady scream.

Now, why would there be a bat in New York? Dan shoved through the crowd (sorry, sorry, sorry, and more sorry) to try to get closer. Fortunately, it wasn't that hard, since everyone was trying to get AWAY from the bat.

The bat let out a soft screech, and then fell to the ground. Dan knew he had read something about not picking up or touching bats because they had all sorts of diseases, **(they do. Do not do this at home, or anywhere in the world.)** but he had a feeling that in this messed up place called the world, this probably wasn't a bat. Bats did not fly to New York, they should be nowhere near the big city. Not wanting the bat to get trampled, he crouched down and reached to pick up the bat, but then the so-called bat transformed into a girl.

It was kind of jarring, watching a transformation. But then Dan realized he shouldn't be saying anything, because he himself wasn't normal.

The girl had wavy brown hair with bat ears on top of her head, and was wearing what looked to be...a hospital gown.

Oh dear god, WHY?!

Dan was not the best with girls, he was far from it. He'd had his share of girlfriends, but none of those relationships had really lasted or really meant anything. And now here he was, with a girl in a HOSPITAL GOWN. That's not a lot of skin coverage. That is in fact NOT A LOT OF SKIN COVERAGE.

This was getting awkward, and it was getting even MORE awkward, because some teenage guys paused to look at the girl on the ground in what looked like nothing but a hospital ground. Dan knew he had to get the girl out of there, fast.

What to do, what to do...WHAT THE H*LL DO I DO? he thought. The teenage guys were advancing on the girl, so Dan scooped the girl up, bridal style, to the nearest building he could see.

Which was a Victoria's Secret.

"OKAY OKAY NOT THIS ONE!" he said rather loudly to himself, causing heads of girls (and some WEIRD men) shopping to turn and see a teenage boy literally carrying a teenage girl. A pretty weird sight.

A clerk blinked. "...Do you need something?"

"Nope nope nope getting out NOW!" Dan ran as fast as he could carrying a girl out of the store. Oh dear lord, he could never unsee those...those things ever again... He wanted the girl to have more clothes on, but not like THAT.

So he decided to call a cab and get to a safe house he and Saph had in this area. Once he got a cab (with some pretty weird looks from bystanders) the cab driver asked, "Is she your girlfriend? What happened?"

"H*ll no, she's not my girlfriend. I don't even know her. I just found her laying on the ground, and I didn't want some creepy guy to get to her," Dan responded. It was mostly the truth.

"And YOU'RE not a creepy guy for carrying a random girl around?" The cab driver raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, yes, now that I think about it, I kind of am being creepy. But it's for the best. I think."

"Well, I ain't gonna ask questions, but just promise me that you'll get her home."

"I promise." And Dan really did, he wanted to get her home. If he could.

The safe house was an upscale apartment which used to be owned by their parents. Dan entered the apartment building, getting more weird looks, but by now he was kind of used to them. He saw a luggage cart, and an idea sparked in his head.

A minute later, Dan was in the elevator, the girl on the luggage cart, with a businesswoman in the elevator with him and the unconscious girl. The businesswoman looked mildly horrified at the sight of a girl in a hospital gown on a luggage cart. "Hi," Dan said.

The businesswoman widened her heavily mascara'd eyes, and hurried out of the elevator, as it dinged a moment later. Dan sighed, looking down at the girl. You've caused me more strange looks in a day than I've had in a year, he thought. The elevator dinged again, and Dan got out.

He rolled the luggage cart to the apartment. He swiped the key he had in his wallet through, and entered.

Inside the apartment, the floors were white ash hardwood, with a gray shag rug in the living room. In the living room, the walls were glass with white pillars intersecting them into panes, with a white leather sofa, white chaise, and white armless chairs that matched the chaise sitting on the gray shag rug. Dan set the girl on the chaise, and slumped onto the sofa, staring at NYC below him.

He stayed like this for a few minutes, until the girl began to scream.

"Hey! Shh! Shh!" Dan jumped up and put his hand over the girl's mouth. "We're in an apartment! Don't make the neighbors complain! I'll explain everything, just be quiet!"

The girl looked at him dubiously, but stopped screaming.

Dan ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, well, I'll start, then. My name is Dan Silver, and I found you on a street. Well, I saw a bat, but then it fell, and turned into you. On the street. Any explanation?"

"You're a Silver? Like, Silver Corporations?" the girl asked, sitting up now. Her cheeks flushed as she smoothed her hospital gown down.

"Yeah, that's why you're in a very expensive apartment. Stick with me, you'll get to see the penthouse," he said in an attempt to cut through the awkwardness.

"Oh, wow...well...I'm Bethany. Bethany Tudor. And I can turn into a bat because...well, I'm actually not sure why. I don't really remember, but I do remember waking up in a white room, but then alarms started going off. Soldiers with eagles on their shoulders broke the door down, but I transformed out of panic. I didn't even know I could do that. I guess it was an instinct, I guess. I flew here...for a long time. I guess I just crashed." Bethany's cheeks turned even redder. "Um...thanks for finding me. I bet you got some weird stares, taking me here..."

Dan snorted. "You have no ****ing idea. And, um, there's clothes in the second bedroom down the hall. I think they'll fit you, my sister is around the same size as you are..." he trailed off, the tips of his ears turning pink.

Bethany smiled, a big, wide smile. "Thanks Dan!" She disappeared into the room, closing the door behind her.

Dan rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. He had no idea how to interact with girls except for his sister. They were like...like a foreign species to him. A paradox. But Bethany seemed nice enough.

He stared out at New York City below him, watching the tiny cars drive by. Whenever he and Saph stayed here, he sometimes killed time by just watching. It was amazing what you could notice.

A few minutes later, Bethany came out, dressed in one of HIS black hoodies, a white t-shirt with faded red stars on it (that he never knew they had), and a pair of Saph's jeggings, and a pair of red Nike **(DON'T SUE ME NIKE)** sneakers.

The first thing he said was, "You're wearing my hoodie."

She punched him lightly in the shoulder. "You're the one who told me I could take your clothes. I like your black hoodie, and I'm taking advantage of it."

He narrowed his eyes. "Fine. Sit down. I'm going to make you an offer."

She shrugged, her wavy brown hair bouncing. "Okay." Bethany sat next to Dan on the sofa, making him more than a little uncomfortable, though he didn't show it. "Part of the reason I picked you up was because I'm recruiting powered people. Silver Corporations isn't under my parents control, my parents were murdered. Jasmine Halley is in control now, with Ryder Seanne as the president of the company and her first in command. And Jasmine Halley is ruthless. She will do anything for money, which is unfortunate for my sister, Saph, and I, because...we have a...family secret...that could potentially be worth a LOT of money..." Dan shrugged off his hoodie, and unfolded his wings.

Bethany sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes on Dan's wings. He wondered if she was completely freaked out and wanted nothing to do with him. But thankfully, that wasn't the case, as she broke out in a grin, her eyes wide. "That is SO cool! You can fly without turning into a hideous bat! I envy you. Like, how is that even possible? Not that I should be asking, since I'm pretty much part bat..."

"Well, I'm an alien."

Bethany's jaw dropped.

"My kind are called the Otherworldy Angels, as dubbed by humankind. Their planet was eaten by Galactus, a small group of survivors fled to Earth, and they settled her. But when they realized that humankind was mean and nasty and wanted to dissect them, they went into hiding as normal humans. So here I am. With a trip to fabulous LA, Saph and I discovered our Angel-y heritage, and here we are now. And now Jasmine Halley somehow knows I'm an alien and has wings, and she wants to dissect me so she can sell wings to people, probably," Dan explained bitterly. "Times I just wish I was normal."

"I feel you. And WOW, that is WEIRD. No offense," she added.

"None taken, that's how I feel too. So, want to join Team Dan? Throw Jasmine Halley into a bottomless pit so someone I trust can take over the company?" He stuck out a hand, which Bethany took.

"Of course! You did kind of save my life, after all." This left Dan with...with some sort of warm and fuzzy feeling inside, grinning like an idiot.

"You can stay here, you know. If you want." Dan rubbed the back of his neck, not sure how she would respond.

"Were else would I stay? Besides, this place is fancy. I like it here." She smiled at him.

"Well, in that case, you can have the first or second bedroom, your choice. I'll tell the others to meet us here, Bethany," he said.

"Okay, then. Oh, and Dan? Call me Beth."

He grinned. "Will do."

…

Dan was curled up on the sofa, Beth on the chaise, flicking through TV shows, when they heard a scream from downstairs. Beth's bat ears perked up. "It's coming from the lobby," she said. Beth started to get up, but Dan gently pushed her down.

"I'll go look. You're in no shape to fight something, and I can take care of myself. I don't need to woman," he snapped his fingers, hand on his hip. Beth laughed, and grabbed the remote from the glass coffee table.

"I'm sure you don't..." She shook her head in amusement as she found a show she liked.

Dan flung open the door, and raced to the elevator. The same businesswoman from before was (somehow) in it, AGAIN, and she pinched the bridge of her nose, probably wondering why this insane kid was here again.

"Hi," he said with a nervous grin. "Umm...about before-" But before he could continue, the businesswoman hurried out the elevator, it being her floor. The businesswoman power-walked away, or as much as you could power-walk in heels. "Well. Someone's grumpy," he muttered to himself, despite fully well knowing that he would have power-walked away from himself if he could've.

The elevator buzzed, and he hurried out, looking around wildly for the source and cause of the scream. Then he saw it – a man, cornering a teenage girl, the kind of man with muscles and tattoos and is probably a drug dealer, or on steroids. Next to him, still screaming, was a woman who looked like she just walked out of a strip club, the kind of woman with pretty blonde hair and big blue eyes and VERY revealing clothing. **(I do not mean to offend anyone with my use of stereotypes here...)**

Dan knew he really shouldn't get in the middle of this, because there was a fairly attractive girl in his apartment that he really wanted to go back to, but he had to, because he was just that kind of person. Sigh.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's going on here?" He walked past the woman, staring down the man, even though the man was a few heads taller than him. These kinds of men were strong, but usually pretty dumb, and Dan was quick. In a fight, Dan could just duck away. Of course, that would mean running from the girl, and his stupid sense of kindness wouldn't allow that, but **** that!

"This ***** stole my purse!" The woman screeched. "So Shannon's gonna punch her pretty little head in!"

Dan felt bad for Shannon. Not just he was stuck with this rude woman, he was also stuck with the name Shannon. Ouch. "Um...well...that's one way to go about it, but what about just turning her in to the police? Y'know, justice and all?" he finished in a small voice as Shannon loomed over him.

"Can't do that. Got a few run-ins with them, kiddo," Shannon replied in a gravely voice. "So I do what I do best. I hit 'er," He pulled his fist back, but the girl ducked with superhuman agility and kicked Shannon's jawbone.

The girl then fled, her ebony hair bouncing behind her. "WHAT THE H*LL WAS THAT?!" Shannon yelled. The woman just screamed, the piercing scream Dan had heard before.

Glancing at the woman and Shannon, he ran after the girl.

"HEY! Hey! Girl with powers! Can I talk to you?" Dan was having a hard time talking while running as the girl led him into the streets of Manhattan, twists around people and cars and turns around buildings and lampposts. "Just for a sec?" The girl glanced in his direction, but kept running. "We can talk over tea in Dell'Angelo Caffe? The Italian cafe? On me?" His sentences were in short bursts, having trouble keeping up with the girl.

But it seemed that the prospect of food (Dan assumed that's why she was stealing anyways) made her finally stop and turn around.

"What? Just...just go away. Or I'll hurt you, too." The girl looked at him with steely gray eyes.

"I'm not afraid of getting hurt. I've gotten hurt too many times, both physically and emotionally, that I've kinda become numb to pain." Dan stood his ground, not moving.

"Then we have something in common." The girl pivoted on her heel, preparing to run, but Dan tackled her to the ground, pinning her arms down. The girl's knee came up, but Dan stepped on her leg, pinning both of her legs down with his feet.

"Now," he said, his face only inches away from hers, "Talk."

"About what?"

"Why did you steal? Where did you get your powers?"

"Why should I tell you this?"

"I need your help."

"Who do you work for?"

"Myself."

"What are your intentions?"

"Good. I hope."

Dan felt the girl's gray eyes analyzing everything he said, and he got the feeling this girl knew exactly what he knew, what he felt, what he wanted. It felt like she was staring into his soul. If he even had one.

"Fine. I'll take you up on that offer." The girl smirked, her steely eyes glittering in the lamplight. She then ran, ran more. Dan wondered if she had been running for a while now, there was a certain tiredness in her step.

He dug in the pocket of his jeans for his wallet. He flipped it open, and there was enough for Dell'Angelo Caffe. God, that place was expensive.

He jogged across the street, but then he thought that he should probably tell Beth where he was going. Just so she wouldn't freak out or anything. He grabbed his iPhone from the pocket of his hoodie, and called the apartment.

"'Yello?"

"Hey. It's Dan, and-"

"Dan! What happened?"

"Well, this girl stole some stripper's purse, or at least she looked like a stripper, and her huge boyfriend Shannon was going to beat the girl up, but the girl totally decked him and ran away, and I followed her, which by the way I just used up all of my exercise quota for this month, and now I'm going to meet with her at Dell'Angelo Caffe. How do I look?"

"I can't see you through the phone."

"Well, I look like I just ran a marathon, which is probably not a good look on me. I'm going to see if she'll join the team."

"Is she powered?"

"I have no idea, but from what I saw of her fighting skills, that ain't natural. Either way, we need a scrapper."

"Fine. Don't have too much fun."

"God, you sound like my sister."

"I'm just sayin'," Beth hung up.

Dan shoved his phone in his back pocket, and continued jogging to Ali D'Angelo's. If Dan remembered correctly, it was a few blocks from the apartment, on 67th Street.

Once he got there, after dodging a few cars and invoking one driver with SERIOUS road rage, he got to Dell'Angelo Caffe. Sure enough, the girl was waiting for him, dressed in a black crop top, with black leggings and knee-high black leather boots, which was drastically different from the old t-shirt and cutoffs she was wearing before. Dan was beginning to suspect that she wasn't kicked out of her home or poor after all.

"Hi. Where's the tea you promised me?" She said with a slight smirk.

"It's in the cafe, as I thought you'd know. You seem like a pretty smart girl," 

"That I am. Shall we?" She opened the door, beckoning him in with her hand.

"Aren't I supposed to do that?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't like following rules," She replied simply.

Dan went in. "This doesn't seem right."

"None of this is right," She said as she went in behind him, looking for a free table. The cafe was pretty busy, even though it was night. It was the most popular cafe in Manhattan, after all.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked as he pulled out her chair for her when they found an open table near the window.

"I usually don't go into cafes with complete strangers."

"Neither do I. I'm Dan."

"Tabby."

"Huh?"

"That's my name. Tabby."

"Oh. So, do you mind telling me who exactly you are? I'm Dan Silver, YES, heir to Silver Corporations blah blah blah. But who are you? How did you take out a massive guy like that, and how are you in that good shape? I'd like to know, and if I do, well, I have a job offer for you."

"What kind of job?"

"A high paying one."

"I'll take it," she said immediately.

"Okay, but I need to know who and what you are to hire you."

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Yes. I've been keeping a ****ing secret for a while now."

"If I tell you, and you tell someone else, I will kill you, and I won't hesitate to do it."

"I'll take your word for it. And I won't tell anyone, not with that death threat hanging over my head."

Tabby lowered her voice. "I work for HYDRA."

Dan would have done a spittake, had he taken a drink at the moment. "HYDRA?" He whispered. "As is evil HYDRA that wants to take over the world?"

"Well, we used to be evil HYDRA that wants to take over the world, but now with new leadership, we're just focusing all of our resources on destroying S.H.I.E.L.D. We don't want to take over the world, we just want to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. My name is Tabby Ward, niece of Grant Ward, director of HYDRA."

"Why does HYDRA hate S.H.I.E.L.D so much?" 

"Well...it's more of a personal vendetta. Grant killed his girlfriend, Kara, by accident. Kara had this face mask that allowed her to take the face of anyone she saw, and she took the face of a S.H.I.E.L.D agent so she could misdirect the other S.H.I.E.L.D agents, but when Grant saw her, he shot her and killed her, him believing her to be a S.H.I.E.L.D agent. So now he blames it all on S.H.I.E.L.D, and he pretty much swore revenge. I honestly don't think that's much of a reason to declare war, but grief turns to anger, and you have to blame someone...I'm only in it because I know S.H.I.E.L.D has done terrible things, and Grant's like a father to me." Tabby took a deep breath when she was done explaining.

"What terrible things have S.H.I.E.L.D done? I mean, I only know one agent, but that agent is pretty d*** awesome, if you ask me..."

"You don't know?" Tabby seemed genuinely shocked. "When New York was attacked by the Chitauri, S.H.I.E.L.D was in possession of the weapon that started it all when Loki attacked their base and stole it. Then, with Ultron, S.H.I.E.L.D allowed Tony Stark to tamper with alien technology, and he created Ultron. There are other things, too, such as Indexing powered people, people that want nothing to do with S.H.I.E.L.D, people that just want to be left alone, are labeled and classified. They wanted to Index all of the Inhumans, though thankfully they weren't able to. S.H.I.E.L.D is bad, Dan. They might seem good, and they do some good things, I'll admit, but they destroy more lives than they save." Tabby leaned back in her chair.

"Okay...that is pretty bad...but what about the good agents?"

"They aren't good if they go along with S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Okay, then. I'll keep that in mind. And now that you spilled your life story to me, it's time I told you some things about me. Just...can you not tell HYDRA? If you tell them, then I'll have to kill you too." 

"I've kept all kinds of secrets."

"Cool. Now, where's the tea I ordered...?"

…

Dan and Tabby sipped English Breakfast tea as they talked. Talked about Dan and Saph, talked about HYDRA, talked about Director Ward, talked about their home lives, talked about their tastes in music (Dan liked Panic! At The Disco and Fall Out Boy, Tabby liked The Cab and Patrick Stump). Before Dan knew it, it was almost 10:00 PM, and Beth was calling him. "Sorry, gotta take this," he said,

"What?"

"WHERE THE H*LL ARE YOU?!"

"Dell'Angelo's with Tabby."

"How long have you been there?"

"Dunno, an hour?"

"Come back to the apartment."

"Fine."

"Good."

"Bye."

Dan hung up. "I've gotta go now. So...you are going to be a part of the team?"

"Of course. I might be able to get you some HYDRA backup, too."

"Ooh, cool." Dan pushed in his chair, and took another sip of his tea. "See ya."

"See ya too, Dan." Tabby leaned over and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek. She then left, not even looking behind her.

Dan felt heat rising to his face. "D***, she's hot," he mumbled.

 **So that was the introduction to the OCs. I'm not sure who to use as Dan's love interest, Beth or Tabby? What do you think? Tell me in the reviews. Also, I'm not sure about how having S.H.I.E.L.D agents and a HYDRA agent on the same team...oh god...**

 **What did you think of Dan? Tell me in the reviews! Any requests for things to happen between the team? Do you think Tabby would seduce Sam to get S.H.I.E.L.D secrets? Do you actually want that to happen? Would Tabby turn on the team, or would Sam and Ava turn Tabby in to S.H.I.E.L.D? Oh dear lord, we'd have a ****ing war on our hands there...**

 **What did you think of the OCs? Please please please tell me in the reviews! Robyn's introduction will come in the next chapter.**

 **REVIEWS, FAVORITES, AND FOLLOWS FEED THE HUNGRY STARVING UPDATE MONSTER!**


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